Bring back Dem Bums

BOB DOLE may not have been wrong; he may merely have been prescient. That, at least, is what some New Yorkers hope. On the stump in Los Angeles last September, Mr Dole dreamed aloud of emulating the success of the “Brooklyn Dodgers”--a somewhat behind-the-times reference to a baseball team that has been known as the Los Angeles Dodgers ever since it headed west after the 1957 season. Now, however, the team is up for sale, and George Pataki, New York's governor, is launching “an all-out effort” to return the Dodgers to Brooklyn. But the chances are that he will strike out.

This month Mr Pataki convened a six-man commission to explore the possibility of reclaiming the Dodgers. Known as “Dem Bums” for their feeble record during much of the three-quarters of a century they were in Brooklyn, the Dodgers nonetheless inspired undying loyalty. In 1947 the team helped break down racism in the sport when Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major-league baseball. And, in 1955, the Dodgers won their only World Series. Then the team's owner, Walter O'Malley, moved it west; and the Giants went to San Francisco at the same time. The Big Apple forgot the Giants when the Mets took their place, but Brooklyn never quite got over the Dodgers.

The odds against winning the team back are high. For a start, there is a price-tag of at least $350m--a sum that will include such immovable assets as Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The team's once-revered Brooklyn base, Ebbets Field, is now built over, so a new stadium would have to be built. Worse, Peter O'Malley (Walter's son, who with his sister now owns the team) insists the Dodgers will stay in Los Angeles. And even if a sweet enough east-coast offer made him relent, New York's two existing major-league baseball teams, the Yankees (last season's World Series champions) and the Mets, could block any deal. All of which is set to leave Brooklyn's baseball fans--like Mr Dole--with nothing but fading memories and ball-park blues.